Ground operation a must in Daesh fight: Turkey FM

“This is what we have been asking at every meeting. Without ground operation you cannot defeat this bloody terrorist organization,” Cavusoglu said during an interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN.

Cavusoglu said Turkey has sent its Special Forces to assist the Free Syrian Army on the ground but with a common enemy, coalition partners should have a shared goal in defeating Daesh.

Responding to a question about Turkey’s next step in its Operation Euphrates Shield, the foreign minister said his country wants to make the Manbij pocket – a 98-kilometers (60 miles) stripe of land along the Turkish Syrian border – a safe zone and clean the area of Daesh.

He said the Syrian city of al-Bab, a Daesh stronghold 40 kilometer (30 miles) south of the Turkish border, and Raqqa, the militant group’s self declared capital, would be the next targets to recapture from Daesh.